Exclusive, Intimate, Content
by Gater101
Summary: OneShot. Harvey lets himself be content with that answer.


Title: Exclusive, Intimate, Content  
Summary: Harvey lets himself be content with that answer.  
Characters: Harvey, Rachel and Bruce  
Pairing: Rachel/Harvey, Rachel/Bruce  
Rating: K+

Harvey Dent has known for a very long time that Rachel Dawes is a member of a very exclusive, very small group known as Bruce Wayne's close friends. Sure, the billionaire playboy has 'friends' but Rachel has been there from the start; she's quite possibly the only true friend the man has had in his entire life. He has known that because of what they share – some kind of secret about Bruce's past that means she can't ever truly be free of him – the exclusivity of their friendship means he can't even pretend to breach the barrier that surrounds them.

He's often wondered why she doesn't let them mingle with one another and for a while, Harvey had thought she had made up her close friendship with Bruce – because really, why would someone like Rachel Dawes be _best friends _with someone like Bruce Wayne. But when Bruce interrupts their quiet dinner in _his hotel, _he thinks he begins to understand.

They share something and it has nothing to do with a secret from childhood, or an avid admiration – they share the knowledge that they _know _one another, that they can rely on one another. That they _love _one another. Harvey has seen it only once – the memory of his grandparents' mutual love and devotion – but he recognises it in the way Bruce announces her name, the way he catches her eye when he introduces _Natasha_.

Rachel, for her part, seems unperturbed and Harvey wonders how long they've been doing this.

--

When he asks her to marry him, he's not surprised when she hesitates. He's not surprised when her eyes flicker past him to the lounge when he asks if it's someone else.

He isn't even really surprised when, hours later after the cops have come and asked their questions and taken their samples that he finds them in the kitchen, huddled together around the island in the middle.

It's the intimacy of the moment that does.

"Bruce," her voice is a quiet whisper but Harvey hears it clearly in the doorway linking the large, empty lounge area to the kitchen. Standing at the door, he can't help but feel like he's intruding. Still, he doesn't think to leave. "Thank you."

Harvey frowns and watches as Bruce turns to her, his shirt half unbuttoned, his hair loose from its usual slick backed style. Bruce smiles tightly at her, the tension lingering in the muscles of his cheeks but his hand rises and brushes against Rachel's jaw.

She doesn't pull back and Harvey can feel something inside of him ache.

"You never have to thank me Rachel."

She doesn't say anything and Harvey wonders what it is she is thanking him for; he knows it could be something simple but the way she hovers close to his side, he knows it's not. She's truly grateful and Harvey is deeply interested.

"Bruce..." her voice is strangled, strained as it reaches his ears across the room and he can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the fear he can hear laced in her tone. He watches as she reaches out a hand and strokes his chest with a gentle, probing finger and Harvey can feel something inside of him coil at the sight. "Oh my God..."

He watches as Bruce's fingers rise slowly to clasp around hers and draw them from his chest.

"Don't."

Harvey can hear the strain in Bruce's voice; can see it in the way his eyes close as he brings Rachel's hand to his face, his lips hovering over her knuckles for a moment before he lowers their hands to his side.

Something is holding Bruce back and Harvey's not so naive as to believe it's him.

"Are you going to be okay?"

Harvey thinks that it's a strange question to be asking Bruce; it wasn't him who the Joker had come after, wasn't him the Joker had knocked out or thrown out of a window. He can't help but wonder if she'll fuss over him the same way.

"I'll be fine." Even Harvey can hear the falseness to his words. Rachel lowers her head and he knows she is biting her lip – she always does when she worries. "You should go," Bruce says after a few moments and Harvey looks back to him, to the stoic face of his girlfriend's best friend and wonders what else lurks behind it. "Harvey will be waiting for you."

He tries to tell himself it doesn't sting when she sighs regretfully.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

His hand strokes over the top of her hair and Harvey can't help but wonder how familiar to them the gesture is. Bruce's smile is tight and almost true, though Harvey can see some of the tension slip from his shoulders when Rachel takes him in a quick hug.

"Go," Bruce says as he pulls back from her and Harvey is almost saddened by the heated stare Bruce sends her way. There's a beat in which Harvey thinks she's going to stay, to let Harvey be but it passes and she steps away from Bruce, nodding slightly as she holds onto his hand until the last moment. Harvey takes a step back into the room he's supposed to be in and waits as he hears Bruce's voice once again. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me Bruce."

It takes her a minute or so to appear in the lounge and Harvey doesn't think he wants to know what took her so long.

--

When they're lying in bed, he can sense her distance. After they had made love, she had lain with her head in his chest but he could tell her thoughts – her heart – was elsewhere. Now, she's sitting on his window ledge, her knees drawn up to her chest, a blanket wrapped around her body. She's beautiful in the dewy moonlight and he feels his breath catch in the back of his throat.

"What are you looking at?" He asks as he comes up behind her, resting his hand on her cool shoulder.

She starts and he can feel her pulse quicken beneath his fingers. She turns to him and smiles at him with tired eyes and he wonders why it is she doesn't sleep.

"Just the city," she murmurs as she leans into his arm, kissing his wrist lightly. He joins her in her early morning viewing, watching as the buildings darken in shadow as the sun begins to rise in the east. "I wonder if he's out there," she says quietly, absently and Harvey kneels down beside her, his head coming to rest on her shoulder.

"Batman?" She nods and Harvey chuckles lightly in the back of his throat. "I'm sure he's had enough excitement for one night – we all have." She turns to him then and for a moment Harvey is taken aback by the fiery glint in her eyes. "What is it?" She shakes her head and for some reason, Harvey feels like he's stepped over a forbidden boundary and something tickles at the back of his mind but he pushes it away. He feels something in his chest tighten and he looks down at her face, watching as her eyes flicker across the horizon, the building tops looking for Gotham's dark knight. "Do you love him?" he asks suddenly and she turns to him with a frown on her face. "Wayne... Do you love him?"

She looks away and for a moment, Harvey can hear her heartbeat in his ears.

"Not like I love you." Her words mist up the cool window and Harvey pretends it doesn't sting that she doesn't turn to him as she says it. "He's my best friend."

Harvey lets himself be content with that answer.

Because she came home with him.


End file.
